Productivity, thy name is...

[alexpgp]

...Wednesday! (Or is that the name of that Addams girl?)

Anyway, I managed to send off a pile of work, which is always good.

Galina and I are not going anywhere for the next few days, first because our kitchen cabinets arrived today and we should probably be around to supervise installation, and second because there's supposed to be a pretty wicked spring snowstorm headed our way (though it's looking more and more as if we're going to miss the main part of the storm).

In terms of my office, I'm vacillating between going the Ikea route (cheap, but the products are cheaply constructed, too) or something a little more custom, but still cheap. I'm thinking a trip through Ikea might not be a bad idea, in terms of seeing what's available and kicking around some ideas.

* * *I'm trying to rebuild some of the memorization chops I once had (oh, but I've backslid over the years!), and I'm finding it's a little more difficult these days.

I am reminded of the difference I can feel (but not describe adequately) in reading English and Russian text (or French for that matter, but that's a different story).

I was fortunate enough to acquire reading fluency early in childhood, so that now, I can pretty much blast through most text not requiring careful attention ("Evelyn Woods" and "second order differential equation" are two phrases that ought never to appear in the same sentence.)

I've been known to knock off a Tom Clancy novel in two sittings. A John Sandford mystery will fall in one. Flights to Europe generally require two medium-sized books. I recall I once read most of a mystery novel while waiting for my bags to arrive after arriving in New York on a Delta flight (though I'm afraid that accomplishment is not entirely due to my reading speed <nudge, wink>).

Basically, whatever mental effort it takes for me to read English text, it's not as if the rest of me notices.

The same is not true when I read Russian, despite the fact I don't really experience any problems doing so. It's not as if I'm sounding out words phonetically, or anything like that. Heck, my comprehension is pretty good (unless the text has a lot of colloquialisms).

It's just that I can feel something fatiguing me, beneath the surface of my consciousness, like a soup bone that hasn't quite enough momentum to rise to the top of the stew. It's why I've not really done a lot of "outside" reading in Russian, at least as compared to what I've devoured in English.

It's also what I suspect happens to a lot of U.S. kids as they go through school, except that for them, it happens in English, so they never get comfortable with reading in childhood/adolescence, and since there is no huge pressure to ever get comfortable with it (radio, tv), that's where they stay.

But I'm getting away from my point (which is a hoot, because I'm actually freewheeling)... so I'll wrap things up for now, get some rest, and maybe continue this freewheel at some later time.

Cheers...

Comments

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Re: reading...I have wondered about people who don't really get into Livejournal. I commented to one person that I thought it was important that you have to like to write for livejournal to seem fun. (After all, things like Facebook seem to be more picture oriented and brief comment oriented.)

But I have also recently amended that to you have to like to read, as well. After all, there are an awful lot of people who find reading a chore. I personally find reading fairly addictive, at least when it's good reading. One thing my husband O and I always note when visiting someone's home is how many books they have on the shelves. Usually the answer is basically zero. He has one friend who is always bored. Well, he doesn't like to read so that pretty much eliminates a ton of entertainment, including learning about new stuff to be entertained by.

BTW, I believe Kris mentioned to you that his dad (that would be O) went to Stoneybrook. I'm finding it interesting every time there is some link or commonality we share with you. For one small detail,I think our offspring are about the same age. (I usually don't like to admit my age on LJ, but there you have it!)But more importantly, there is the whole sciencey orientation.

[crocotiger.livejournal.com]

Your experience is a mirror of mine. I read in Russian quickly, and in English slowly. And the impression is very different of reading in English and Russian. My first book in English was 'The Hobbit' by Tolkien. The author was absolutely unknown in the USSR at that time, so I didn't know what is this book and what is it about. While reading, I was suprised that story can be created without use of Russian language. You see, people know that books are written in different languages, but people who read translated books still experience these foreign books as a part of their native literature. Which it, in a certain sense, is. Because after translation the books come into quite another cultural field and becomes new life. What is pitiful, sometimes books are poorly translated, but readers assign it to the author, and his reputation can be spoiled without hope to ever restore, because first impression is eternal impression...